The Top 15 Graphic Novels to Read This Summer

June 16, 2018

Looking for the best books to take with you on summer vacation? These are some of our favorites right now:

15. The Black Monday Murders

This is classic occultism, where the various schools of magic are actually clandestine banking cartels who control all of society: a secret world where vampire Russian oligarchs, Black popes, enchanted American aristocrats, and hitmen from the International Monetary Fund work together to keep all of us in our proper place.

14. 4 Kids Walk into a Bank

This dark comedy features four burgeoning child criminals and their elaborate plans. When a group of bumbling criminals show up in her father's life looking to pull one last job, young Paige has two choices: let her father get caught up in their criminal hijinks or enlist her three best friends to do the job first. Paige picks the bad one. This book will have you laughing in your beach chair.

13. Descender

Young robot boy TIM-21 and his companions struggle to stay alive in a universe where all androids have been outlawed and bounty hunters lurk on every planet. Written by award-winning creator Jeff Lemire, Descender is a rip-roaring and heartfelt cosmic odyssey. Lemire pits humanity against machine, and world against world, to create a sprawling epic.

12. Bingo Love

When Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray met at church bingo in 1963, it was love at first sight. Forced apart by their families and society, Hazel and Mari both married young men and had families. Decades later, now in their mid-'60s, Hazel and Mari reunite again at a church bingo hall. Realizing their love for each other is still alive, what these grandmothers do next takes absolute strength and courage. Bingo Love is a touching story of love, family, and resiliency that spans over 60 years.

11. All-Star Superman

Superman is dying. Now, with time running against him, the Man of Steel must tie up loose ends and make sure that he leaves the Earth better than he found it. The unstoppable creative team of writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely join forces once more to take Superman back to basics. In an emotionally and visually stunning graphic novel harkening back to a Golden Age of comics, All-Star Superman creates a new, and at the same time familiar, take on the world’s first superhero.

10. 100 Bullets

The best-selling graphic novels series 100 Bullets, written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso, is now re-collected in a five-volume series! This dark and intriguing Eisner Award-winning series features a mysterious agent named Graves who approaches ordinary citizens and gives them an opportunity to exact revenge on a person who has wronged them. Offering his clients an attaché case containing proof of the deed and a gun, he guarantees full immunity for all of their actions, including murder.

9. Infinity Gauntlet

This is the book that inspired the movie. If you thought THE SNAP was gut-wrenching in the movie, wait until you see how Thanos beats the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. The Mad Titan has become the most powerful being in the universe, and enslavement or destruction may be the only choice he gives it!

8. Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six

In this fun, classic take on Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus is getting the band back together! But who will join master planner Otto Octavius in the most Sinister Six of all? Spidey is about to find out, but defeating this sextet of his most ruthless foes will test him like never before...and, in the aftermath, Peter's tremendous sense of responsibility will lead him to give up his powers! Is this Spider-Man no more?

7. Wolverine: Enemy of the State

If you are looking for a Wolverine story that’s pure action and adventure – this is it. Brainwashed by the ninjas of the Hand, Wolverine slices and dices his way through foes and friends alike, ultimately resulting in the death of an X-Man! Captured and reprogrammed, Wolverine is sent against his former masters – but amid an orgy of death and destruction, is even the fiercest mutant alive a match for the deadly stare of the Gorgon?

6. Avengers: Ultron Unlimited

With every defeat, Ultron has returned deadlier than before. This four-part story sees him at his most dangerous, with the destruction of an entire European nation just to get the Avengers’ attention. But with an army of himself at Ultron’s disposal, Avengers will have to risk everything to stop him. Ultron Unlimited is not simply a story of good vs. evil. It also explores the team’s history with Ultron, as Busiek and Perez explore his true motives and the family connections that he has with members of the team. MCU fans will see elements of this story that inspired Avengers: Age of Ultron, especially in regard to the final act of the movie.

5. JLA: The Deluxe Edition

Did you know that Batman can kick all of the Justice Leaguers’ butts? That Superman can move the Moon? That the Flash can evacuate Hong Kong the instant a nuclear bomb goes off? This is the series that shows you how. Relive the legendary 1990s JLA series, written by comics mastermind Grant Morrison (Final Crisis) with stunning art by Howard Porter and others, in this amazing oversized softcover collecting JLA #1-9 and Secret Files and Origins #1! The action begins as the JLA reunites to stop the Hyperclan, who have come to Earth posing as a new group of superheroes. But as their true nature comes to light, only the World's Greatest Superheroes can stop them! Standing side by side, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter take on alien posers and come to realize that Earth needs a protectorate made up of only the mightiest icons!

4. Bitch Planet

Fans of sci-fi, Orange Is the New Black, big action, and bigger characters are crazy about Bitch Planet. Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick's premise is classic dystopia: What if men rounded up all the "non-compliant" women and exiled them to an off-planet prison? Bitch Planet uses the style of '60s and '70s exploitation films to totally subvert the genre, putting women of all shapes, sizes, colors, and identities in outrageous situations and daring them to escape. Imagine if every action hero and villain of the last 40 years were women: Bitch Planet is that dream come true.

3. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

Written by Ryan North, creator of the beloved Dinosaur Comics, and drawn by Erica Henderson, this hilarious, nutty (yep) reboot of one of Marvel's countless superpeople was made just for you. As half-human, half-squirrel Doreen Green heads to college, she wants to be "normal," but with a best squirrel friend, a huge fluffy tail, and a history of heroism, she has to save the world, too. Watch Squirrel Girl take down some of the biggest foes you may have never heard about, in hilarious and touching ways.

2. Saga

Between war and parenthood, which is harder? Saga, a futuristic series written by Brian Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples, brings you a very adult star-crossed tale of love among the atrocities of an interplanetary war. Marko and Alana struggle to protect their fledgling family as they flee from those on both sides who would use them or destroy them. As Vaughan explains, he wanted to write about the difficulty of marriage and parenthood, but hidden inside a ripping action story to keep things exciting. Staples's art is both operatically huge and intimate; she even hand-letters baby Hazel's narration. Yes, sometimes the narrator is a baby — aren't comics amazing?

1. Black Widow: The Itsy-Bitsy Spider

Natasha Romanov has always led a life of adventure. But now, her time as Black Widow may be running out. Yelena Belova, the new Black Widow, seeks to claim the mantle she feels was stolen from her Motherland.